This rose has quite a strong resinous smell from the new growths. You can smell it straight away without having to rub at all. The other gallica and damask roses I grow also have this but 'Officinalis' is by far the strongest.It has been the most wonderful spring day here in Devon. I have been strimming all day and the garden smells delightfully of cut grass and a large balsam poplar is just coming into leaf with a delicious spicy fragrance.

Andrew: Thank you for the info. of fragrant foliage. Your bush looks very nice !! It's on my buy-list for shade-tolerance. Sonia Rykiel's leaves smell like raspberry-floral in my alkaline clay (just by being near it) ... so I want more roses with fragrant foliage.

I just uploaded a picture of this rose. Looking at other pictures of Rosa gallica 'Officinalis' on HMF the stamens are always quite clearly visible. On my rose they arn't, so maybe it has been identified wrongly. Any suggestions?